Hands on: Safari 4 beta fast, mixes polish, rough UI edges — Apple on Tuesday released Safari 4 beta, a new version of its browser for Mac OS X and Windows. This update brings a bunch of new features, including a flashy new Top Sites view, a completely redesigned Windows UI, and support for some impressive emerging Web standards.

Update on Gmail — The Gmail outage that affected many consumers and Google Apps users worldwide is now over. Users should find that they're able to access their email now without any further problems. — Before you can access your Gmail, you may be asked to fill in what's called …

Ballmer: Office 14 not this year — During his annual “Strategic Update” briefing with Wall Street analysts on February 24, CEO Steve Ballmer said Office 14 won't be shipping in 2009. — “Office 14 will not be this year,” Ballmer told analysts. — Microsoft officials have been careful …

Apple launches a new iTunes Pass feature for groupies — Is there an artist you love? I mean really love, as in you'll buy anything they do before you have any idea what it is? A lot of people probably do, and for them, Apple has a new feature on iTunes called “iTunes Pass.”

Reality Sinks in at Online Advertising Confab — Recession Could Lead to Business Failures, Irrational Risks — NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — For five years online was advertising's growth business, but 2008 delivered a wake-up call: Online advertising isn't immune to the recession, and it's only just begun.

iPhone App Prices Tanking — Apple (AAPL) is famous for keeping its gadget pricing steady. But the iPhone app store is a much different market: App developers have cut prices significantly in the last few months. And the market for $10 premium apps seems to have evaporated.

VMware's Confederation Of Clouds — Virtualization company aims to unify virtual and external cloud-computing providers. — You could think of it as the “Hey, you, hop on my cloud,” strategy. — Or, for the more earthbound, it's VMware's plan to bring cloud computing to its nascent virtual data-center operating system.

Marvell makes ultrasmall wall plug computer — You might have heard or even used one of those Powerline network adapters, such as the one made by Netgear that plug directly into the wall. Now think of a similar device with the exception that it is an entire computer.

InstantAction enables 3-D games in web browsers — InstantAction is announcing today the formal launch of its site that lets gamers play 3-D games in a web browser. — The site will have nine games that are available for free at the outset, with a half-dozen more games coming soon.

Steve Jobs is 54 — Tuesday, Feb. 24, is Steve Jobs' birthday. — He turns 54. — To celebrate this very personal milestone, we thought we'd re-post what may be the most personal public speech this intensely private man has ever made: his 2005 commencement address to the Stanford University class of 2005.

“Android is not open. It's a marketing label” — Google, Symbian get claws out in ‘open’ cat fight — If you thought the rise of open OS platforms would herald a new era of peace and harmony in the mobile industry you'd be sadly mistaken, as rival players in the space Google and the Symbian Foundation …

Adobe Flash Player Invalid Object Reference Vulnerability — I. BACKGROUND — Adobe Flash Player is a very popular web browser plugin. It is available for multiple web browsers and platforms, including Windows, Linux and MacOS. Flash Player enables web browsers to display rich multimedia content …